Collection Lambert, Avignon. Photo: © Franck Couvreur

The leading artists Adel Abdessemed, Francesco Vezzoli and Miquel Barceló have donated major works to the Lambert Collection in Avignon, one of France’s most important Modern and contemporary art collections. The gifts mark the reopening this week (11 July) of the Lambert Collection museum, which houses 556 works donated by the former dealer Yvon Lambert to the French state in 2012.

 

The museum complex has been located in the 18th-century Hôtel de Caumont building since 2000. It has since expanded to the neighbouring Hôtel de Montfaucon, doubling the exhibition space from 1,800 sq. m to 3,600 sq. m. The Hôtel de Caumont now hosts the temporary exhibitions while the adjoining Hôtel de Montfaucon is home to the permanent collection. Both historic mansions belong to the city of Avignon; the €14m cost of the conversion has been met by the French government (€8m) and local authorities.

The collection includes more than 30 works by Cy Twombly and 35 sculptures, works on paper and wall drawings by Sol LeWitt. Other artists represented include Donald Judd, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer and Nan Goldin. Vezzoli has donated the needlework piece Les Parapluies d’Avignon (2015) and Barceló has given an untitled painting.

Meanwhile, Lambert and Eric Mezil, the director of the Lambert Collection, are organising a series of exhibitions at the Musée de Vence in the south of France. “The mayor of Vence [Loic Dombreval] has persuaded the collector Yvon Lambert to turn a new page at the museum,” says the museum website. 

The inaugural show, which closed last month, was a survey of works by the New York-born photographer Andres Serrano. The retrospective included a series of new photographs taken in the Matisse chapel in Vence. “Most of the works came from the Lambert Collection,” says an exhibition spokeswoman. The next show, due to open in September, is dedicated to Abdessemed.